Caroline Allan was the speaker and is the daughter of Bert Allan one of our Honourary members.
She runs a business purchasing and importing Asian carpets form Iran. She started doing this as an agent of one of the large furniture companies in London. After a few years she decided to start her own business and has now done this for around 30 years..
This was a strange venture for a young girl as in Iran females only look after the men, produce children and clean and cook. She quickly realised that she had to dress as a man, hide her hair and behave like a man.
It is surprising that she has done this for so many years.
The main occupation of the Iranians is the weaving and selling of carpets. The carpets they produce are of an ancient culture and patterns and are expensive. There are pictures of carpets over 500 years old and it is believed that carpets were made BC. In Iran and the neighbouring countries there are many different cultures and languages.
The local sheep produce the wool for carpets and although the sheep do not look all that good the wool they produce is ideal for making carpets. Dyes for the wool are cultured locally but green is not used and is only found in ancient carpets.
The carpets are manufactured in a variety of looms handed down from previous generations.
It is amazing that Caroline has managed to continue this business for so many years despite the difficulties encountered.
She has a great variety of carpets and would be only too happy to show these to any potential purchaser.